RPW Exclusive: The Right Line Helps Luke Horning Take Thursday’s DIRTcar Pro Stock World Short Track Championship Feature
News Director 
Column By: BRETT HORLACHER / RPW – CONCORD, NC – Some of the Northeast’s finest full-fendered DIRTcar Pro Stocks took to the Dirt Track At Charlotte Thursday night as the final event of the World Short Track Championship’s opening night of action.
The division commenced in a 15-lap shootout that paid $400-to-win.
Ballston Spa, NY’s Jay Fitzgerald started on the pole and led the first three laps until he was passed by 2023 Super DIRT Week champ Cousin Luke Horning.
On lap 7, the caution flew after a three-car accident involving Shane Henderson, Johnny Rivers Jr and Sean Corr.
When the green flag came back out, the #8 of Marc Lalonde put heavy pressure on Horning until the caution came out once again a lap later. Jay Fitzgerald went for a spin in his #56 after contact from Jonathan Lemay.
On the subsequent restart, Horning once again led but Lalonde still wouldn’t let him get very far. Horning was only able to obtain a three-car length lead until another yellow flag bunched the field back up.
However, on the final restart of the event, Horning stretched out his advantage to a sizeable lead and never look back, winning in his first outing at Charlotte.
“It’s a Playfab,” Horning said afterwards of his chassis manufacturer. “It’s unbeatable.”
From the start of the race, Horning had a gameplan.
“I knew from watching the night that for the first couple of laps, I had to stay tight to the tires,” he said. “Guys would drift up a bit and that left me a lane down there. Then, Jay (Fitzgerald) wasn’t running either lane so I had to roll the top to clear him.”
Then, Horning began to keep an eye on the jumbo-tron.
“I could see the 8 (Lalonde) was working him too,” he said. “I knew once I cleared Jay, I had to get back to the bottom to protect.”
When asked about his restarts, Horning noted that he wasn’t getting any indication from veteran starter Dave Farney that he was getting any sort of lead.
“I was looking at the jumbo-tron and Mr. Farney and he wasn’t showing me I was getting a lead,” he said. “I figured the video was messing with me. Then, I saw the 8 car on the outside of me and the yellow came out.”
From that point, Horning knew what he needed to do. That’s when he decided to move up some and mimic the line that he had seen Lalonde run while he was running through the field.
“I knew I just needed to move up a little bit,” he said. “I thought we’d be okay. Once I moved up, I could see why he was so good up there.”
That decision ended up proving to be the winning move.
Horning thanked his sponsors and noted his respect for chassis builder and fellow racer, Shane Playford.
“We sold four cars at Super DIRT Week,” he said. “Shane’s staying home to build them. That’s not for me. I’m out here racing to sell them!”
Action from Charlotte continues Friday at 4pm with heat races for the DIRTcar Northeast Pro Stocks and Sportsman, DIRTcar Street Stocks, 602 Late Models, Pro (604) Late Models, UMP Modifieds, Crate Modified, Thunder Bombers, Mini-Stocks, and features-only for FWD/Sport Compacts.
Championship Feature (15 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[7]; 2. 8-Marc Lalonde[6]; 3. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[8]; 4. 04-Jaxson Ryan[14]; 5. 44X-Bruno Richard[19]; 6. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[10]; 7. 2-Pete Stefanski[17]; 8. 15-Guy Viens[5]; 9. 9J-Eric Jean Louis[15]; 10. 5-Ian Bressette[18]; 11. 56-John Fitzgerald[1]; 12. 35-Jonathan Lemay[3]; 13. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[9]; 14. 28-Philip DeFiglio[16]; 15. 25Y-Ken Griffin[2]; 16. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[12]; 17. 33-Bruno Cyr[20]; 18. 8C-Sean Corr[11]; 19. 9-Shane Henderson[13]; 20. 6C-Brian Carter[4]
Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning, 00:19.781[2]; 2. 72G-Denis Gauvreau, 00:19.845[16]; 3. 9J-Eric Jean Louis, 00:19.875[9]; 4. 2-Pete Stefanski, 00:20.058[5]; 5. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr, 00:20.070[23]; 6. 8-Marc Lalonde, 00:20.100[20]; 7. 35-Jonathan Lemay, 00:20.111[27]; 8. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino, 00:20.116[26]; 9. 33-Bruno Cyr, 00:20.132[25]; 10. 04-Jaxson Ryan, 00:20.171[18]; 11. 15-Guy Viens, 00:20.181[15]; 12. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr, 00:20.188[21]; 13. 25Y-Ken Griffin, 00:20.189[3]; 14. 9-Shane Henderson, 00:20.255[12]; 15. 8C-Sean Corr, 00:20.267[13]; 16. 28-Philip DeFiglio, 00:20.292[8]; 17. 5-Ian Bressette, 00:20.320[6]; 18. 44X-Bruno Richard, 00:20.324[11]; 19. 56-John Fitzgerald, 00:20.351[30]; 20. 6C-Brian Carter, 00:20.356[7]; 21. 32-Jonathan Levesque, 00:20.470[29]; 22. 93-Kenny Martin, 00:20.482[14]; 23. 01-Francois Adam, 00:20.561[19]; 24. 6-Stephane Lebrun, 00:20.568[1]; 25. 4M-Jordan Modiano, 00:20.584[22]; 26. 63-Ryan Crellin, 00:20.633[17]; 27. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:20.737[28]; 28. 58-Roxanne Roy, 00:20.743[4]; 29. 14-Kim Duell, 00:20.917[24]; 30. 7-Sean Brierley, 00:21.266[10]
Hot Laps (2 Laps): 1. 72G-Denis Gauvreau, 00:19.880[16]; 2. 9J-Eric Jean Louis, 00:19.991[9]; 3. 8-Marc Lalonde, 00:19.994[20]; 4. 33-Bruno Cyr, 00:20.034[25]; 5. 44X-Bruno Richard, 00:20.061[11]; 6. 28-Philip DeFiglio, 00:20.085[8]; 7. 15-Guy Viens, 00:20.128[15]; 8. 2H-Luke Horning, 00:20.140[2]; 9. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:20.167[28]; 10. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr, 00:20.217[21]; 11. 04-Jaxson Ryan, 00:20.239[18]; 12. 32-Jonathan Levesque, 00:20.253[29]; 13. 4M-Jordan Modiano, 00:20.265[22]; 14. 93-Kenny Martin, 00:20.287[14]; 15. 14-Kim Duell, 00:20.329[24]; 16. 25Y-Ken Griffin, 00:20.374[3]; 17. 5-Ian Bressette, 00:20.383[6]; 18. 2-Pete Stefanski, 00:20.436[5]; 19. 9-Shane Henderson, 00:20.441[12]; 20. 8C-Sean Corr, 00:20.453[13]; 21. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino, 00:20.457[26]; 22. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr, 00:20.484[23]; 23. 63-Ryan Crellin, 00:20.546[17]; 24. 6C-Brian Carter, 00:20.600[7]; 25. 35-Jonathan Lemay, 00:20.633[27]; 26. 01-Francois Adam, 00:20.658[19]; 27. 6-Stephane Lebrun, 00:20.790[1]; 28. 56-John Fitzgerald, 00:20.797[30]; 29. 7-Sean Brierley, 00:20.892[10]; 30. 58-Roxanne Roy, 00:21.422[4]
